JP4223907B2 - Facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus, and more particularly, to a backup method of received image data in which terminal identification information TTI on the transmission side after power-off is not set.

In recent years, facsimile machines have a memory with a large amount of storage capacity, and so-called facsimile apparatuses with a memory reception function that receive and store received image data that does not require immediate output in the memory have increased. A facsimile apparatus having this function stores received image data temporarily in a memory so that the plotter can be used in order to enable facsimile reception while the plotter is in use, such as a multifunction machine. The received image data is read from the memory and printed. However, in the case of the memory reception function, when the power is turned off after the image data is stored in the memory, the contents of the memory are lost. Therefore, it is important to back up the data.
As a prior art, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-129511 discloses a method for backing up communication data storage memory. According to this, when there is valid data in the storage memory, a backup current is supplied or a refresh operation of the DRAM is executed, and when there is no valid data, these are turned off. Thereby, when there are a plurality of storage memories, a memory having valid data is selected and the above control is performed. When valid data is distributed in a plurality of memories, the data is rearranged to minimize the memory device to be controlled.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-285313 provides a header area for discriminating valid data in a storage memory, and when the header becomes invalid data, initialization is performed and reading / writing to the stored data is prohibited. It is. In some initializations, the accumulated data is printed out. This print operation informs the operator that initialization is necessary and allows the operator to select.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-239254 is equipped with a DRAM for image storage necessary for facsimile transmission and reception and a FROM of the same capacity, and temporarily stores an image data file stored in the DRAM in a waiting time from the completion of communication to printing. Copying to FROM. In addition, a technique is disclosed in which, when printing is performed, the accumulated data copied to the FROM is decompressed and output, and the FROM is erased during idle time.
JP-A-8-129511 JP-A-10-285313 JP-A-11-239254

The prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1 supplies a backup current when a storage memory has valid data, executes a DRAM refresh operation, or turns off these when there is no valid data. . However, secondary batteries are generally used for temporary backups, and a guaranteed value is determined for the number of times of charging and discharging separately from the product life. There is a problem.
The prior art disclosed in Patent Document 2 provides a header area for determining whether the data is valid in the storage memory. When the header becomes invalid data, initialization is performed and reading / writing to the storage data is performed. If it is determined that battery consumption or data destruction has occurred, it will be initialized and erased, and this will not help protect the stored data.
The prior art disclosed in Patent Document 3 is equipped with a DRAM for image storage necessary for facsimile transmission and reception and a FROM of the same capacity, and waits from completion of communication until printing until the image data file once stored in the DRAM. Copying to FROM in time and copying with multiple storage memory devices, but the capacity sufficient to hold the received image is several MB, and it costs a lot to prepare for that separate memory device There is a problem such as up.
In view of such a problem, the present invention uses only a memory device that is originally necessary as an apparatus, and reliably protects and stores a memory reception file whose destination is unknown without a TTI without newly preparing a special memory device. An object is to provide a facsimile machine.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a facsimile apparatus capable of receiving a memory, an image storing means for storing received image data that does not require immediate output, communication time, and the received image data. Storage area storage means for storing the storage area information, reset generation means for generating a plurality of reset signals with different threshold values, and image data processing means for copying data between storage devices different from the image storage means. When the power supply is interrupted while the received image data that does not require immediate output is being stored in the image storage means, the image data processing means is a time difference at which a plurality of reset signals generated by the reset generation means are activated. Using the storage area storage means, the storage area of the received image data for which the terminal identification information on the transmission side is not set is detected. And, characterized by copying the received image data of the storage area in the storage device is read out from said image storage means.
A feature of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention is that reset generation means for individually detecting a logic voltage and a power supply voltage of the storage area storage means and generating a reset signal according to each voltage is provided. Specifically, the circuit is operated to copy the image data from the image storage means to the storage area storage means. That is, the power source of the image storage means is backed up by the secondary battery, and holds the image data for a predetermined time even when the power source is cut off. Then, the image data processing means is operated by hardware using the time difference generated by the reset generation means, and the received image data in the storage area is read from the image storage means and copied to another storage device.
According to this invention, the image data processing means is operated by hardware using the time difference generated by the reset generation means, and the received image data in the storage area is read from the image storage means and copied to another storage device. Documents that cannot be identified by printing out can be stored instead of temporary backups.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the storage area storage means further comprises a register for storing a free capacity of the storage area storage means and a free capacity of the image storage means, and received image data that does not require immediate output is stored in the image storage means. When the power supply is shut down while updating the free space of the register while accumulating, the image data processing means uses the time difference at which a plurality of reset signals generated by the reset generation means become active, The storage area storage means detects the storage area of the received image data for which no terminal identification information is set, compares the free space stored in the register, and stores the storage area storage means with the larger free space The received image data in the storage area detected by the above is copied.
According to the present invention, the storage device is selected according to the amount of data. In other words, the storage area storage means further comprises a register for storing its own free capacity and the free capacity of the image storage means, and when the power is shut off, the value of this register is compared and the received data having the larger free capacity is compared. Is to be copied.
According to this invention, since the received data is copied to the one having a larger free space by comparing the register values, the received data can be backed up reliably.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the storage area storage means further comprises page capacity storage means for storing the data capacity of the first page of the received image data, and the received image data that does not require immediate output is stored in the image storage means. However, when the power supply is cut off while updating the free capacity of both registers, the image data processing means uses the time difference at which the plurality of reset signals generated by the reset generation means become active, As a result of detecting the storage area of the received image data in which terminal identification information is not set by the storage area storage means and comparing the free capacity stored in the register, the free capacity of the storage area storage means is the image storage When the storage area storage means is smaller than the free capacity of the means and larger than the capacity stored by the page capacity storage means The first page of the received image data in the storage area issued stored in the storage area storage means, characterized by copying the remaining received image data in said image storage means.
The present invention further includes page capacity storage means for storing the data capacity of the first page of the received image data in the storage area storage means, and first, the register values are compared to determine whether the free space of the storage area storage means is the image storage means. Is less than the free space and larger than the capacity stored by the page capacity storage means, it is impossible to store all the image data in the image storage means, but the image data for one page is stored in the storage area storage means. It is possible to back up all the image data. Therefore, in the case of the above condition, the first page is stored in the storage area storage means, and the rest is stored in the image storage means.
According to this invention, when the free space of the storage area storage means is smaller than the free capacity of the image storage means and larger than the capacity stored by the page capacity storage means, the first page is stored in the storage area storage means and the remaining Is stored in the image storage means, so that even a user with a large number of received files can protect and store many files.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the image processing apparatus further includes a thinning unit that thins the received image data according to a predetermined algorithm, and the received image data that does not require immediate output is thinned by the thinning unit and stored in the image storage unit. To do.
The present invention is an invention for storing more files. That is, the image data processing means expands the first page of the flagged data file and expands the image in the idle time during which each circuit is active. Then, page thinning data is created using a thinning circuit in the image processing means, stored after the marker, and a second marker of data is added. When the power is shut off, the first marker to the second marker are transferred.
According to this invention, since the received image data is thinned and stored, even a user with a larger number of received files can protect and accumulate many files.

According to the first aspect of the invention, the image data processing means is operated by hardware using the time difference generated by the reset generation means, and the received image data in the storage area is read from the image storage means and copied to another storage device. As a result, it is possible to store documents that are not known to the other party unless they are printed out.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the received data is copied to the one having a larger free space by comparing the register values, so that the received data can be backed up reliably.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, when the free space of the storage area storage means is smaller than the free capacity of the image storage means and larger than the capacity stored by the page capacity storage means, the first page is stored in the storage area storage means and the remaining Is stored in the image storage means, so that even a user with a large number of received files can protect and store many files.
Further, since the received image data is thinned and stored in claim 4, even a user having a larger number of received files can protect and accumulate many files.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings. However, the components, types, combinations, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like described in this embodiment are merely illustrative examples and not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only unless otherwise specified. .
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention. This facsimile apparatus is roughly composed of a copy control unit 1 and a communication control unit 2. The copy control unit 1 controls the operation panel of the multifunction apparatus, reads a scanner, and outputs a print. The communication control unit 2 is in charge of overall data transmission / reception through various communication control units.
The copy control unit 1 includes a CPU 3 that controls the copy function and the facsimile apparatus in general, the communication control unit 2 performs communication control, and a communication control controller 4 that exchanges data with the copy control unit 1 includes a bridge 5. It is connected. The copy control unit 1 includes a ROM 6a storing a program, an information storage RAM 7a, a work RAM 8a used for data processing, an operation panel 9a, an operation panel control unit 9b for controlling the same, a scanner 10a for reading an original, A scanner control unit 10b that controls the image, a plotter 11a that prints an image, a plotter control unit 11b that controls the imager, various IOs 12a, an IO control unit 12b that controls the IO, and a compression / decompression that compresses and expands image data. Unit 13a, a large-capacity memory 13b, a LAN I / F 14b connected to an external LAN, and a LAN control unit 14a for controlling the LAN I / F 14b.

The communication control unit 2 includes a ROM 6b storing programs, a RAM 7b for storing information, a work RAM 8b used for data processing, an analog line I / F 15a connected to an analog telephone, an analog telephone network, and an extension network, and a G4 line network. A digital line I / F 16a to be connected, a G3 FAX modem 15b for modulating / demodulating data from the analog line I / F 15a, a G4 FAX control unit 16b for controlling data from the digital line I / F 16a, and FAX image data are stored in each memory. And a FAX image data processing unit 17 that performs a copying operation between memories, a FAX image storage memory 13c that stores received image data, and an external storage device 13d. The RAMs 7a and 7b are backed up by a primary battery or the like, and the contents are retained even when the power is turned off. There is a ROM 6c as a part of the ROM 6b or as another chip.
There is an operation panel 9a and its control unit 9b used in general facsimile, and is controlled mainly by the CPU 3. Control from the communication control unit 2 is performed directly or through the CPU 3. The I / O of the copy control unit 1 includes a scanner 10a and its control unit 10b, a plotter 11a and its control unit 11b, and other I / O controls include various IOs 12a and an IO control unit 12b. Other I / Os include paper, doors, heater temperature sensors, motors, and the like. It has a compression / decompression control unit 13a that performs compression / decompression of a copy image, and a large-capacity memory 13b such as an HDD. In addition, command communication is performed between the copy control unit 1 and the communication control unit 2 via the bridge 5. The image data is performed for each page, each block, or each line between the work RAMs 8a and 8b. The communication control unit 2 also has an external storage device 13d such as a FAX image storage memory 13c or an SD card for storage. As communication ports, the copy control unit 1 includes a LAN control unit 14a and a LAN I / F 14b for connecting to a LAN. The communication control unit 2 includes an analog line I / F 15a and a G3 FAX modem 15b, a digital line I / F 16a, and a G4 FAX control unit 16b as FAX communication ports. Communication is performed by connecting to various communication networks via these. Fax communication transmission / reception data is subjected to FAX compression / expansion and the operation of the present invention in the FAX image processing unit 17, and has an external storage device 13 d such as a FAX image storage memory 13 c and an SD card.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the power supply system of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention. An AC power input to the apparatus is input to an AC voltage control circuit 20b and a DC power supply unit 20c in a PSU (Power Supply Unit) 20a via a power cord 18 and a power SW 19. The AC voltage controlled by the AC voltage control circuit 20 b is input to the copy fixing heater 21. The DC power supply unit 20c generates a DC voltage V1 used in the device IO and a DC voltage V2 of the logic circuit.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the power supply system of the communication control unit 2 of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention. The communication control unit 2 is supplied with a DC voltage V2. In the embodiment, V1 = ± 12V, 24V, and V2 = 5V. In the communication control unit 2, the REG 22 generates a DC voltage V3 (V2> V3, for example, 3.3V) used in the communication control controller 4 and peripheral circuits. Both the voltages V2 and V3 are sensed by the voltage detection circuit 23. When the voltages V2 and V3 fall below the specified voltage, the reset generation circuit 24 generates reset signals RES1 and RES2, respectively. Further, the DC voltage V4 is generated from the DC voltage V2 by the backup voltage generation circuit 25a and supplied to the FAX image storage memory 13c. The backup voltage generation circuit 25a has a secondary battery 25b.

Next, a first embodiment will be described. First, the memory configuration will be described. As a storage memory, an SDRAM image FAX image storage memory 13c is provided. This memory has a relatively large capacity of 16 Mbytes, and has a capacity of about 1280 pages in A4 size. And it is driven by the backup voltage V4 as the power supply voltage. Further, the ROM 6 of the FROM element may be configured as a program area ROM 6b and a data area ROM 6c, or may be separate elements. The ROM 6c has a capacity of 1 Mbyte, 512 kbytes, excluding general data such as a telephone book, and a capacity of 40 pages in A4 size. And it is driven by the logic DC voltage V3 as the power supply voltage. The RAM 7b of the SRAM element stores setting data and the like. The total capacity is 126k bytes and the storage area is 32k bytes. The A4 size has a capacity of 2.5 pages. As the power supply voltage, the logic DC voltage V3 is backed up by the primary battery when the power is turned off.
The header of the facsimile communication includes a TTI that is a terminal identification ID. In this TTI, a company name, a person name, a telephone number of the own station number, etc. are registered as information of the own station, and the other party can be known on the receiving side. However, there are cases where the TTI is not registered or is set to OFF by the operator. Therefore, if there is a facsimile reception that is not immediately output from the G3 FAX modem 15b or the G4 FAX control unit 16b, the communication control controller 4 uses the work RAM 8b to store in the FAX image storage memory 13c in the compression format with the highest compression rate. When reception ends normally, the storage area information is written in the RAM 7b together with information such as the communication time. In the present embodiment, a flag indicating that there is no TTI at a predetermined location is set in the header portion of the storage area.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the voltage transition of the DC voltages V2 and V3. When the AC power is turned on, the voltages V2 and V3 rise, but the lower voltage V3 rises first. As for the voltage detection signal, the DET-V3 signal becomes active at time t1 (point P), and the DET-V2 signal becomes active at time t2 (point Q). In the control of the prior art, it is necessary to reset the logic all at once, except for the periods t2 to t3 in which both V2 and V3 are rising. In the present embodiment, the RES1 signal is made active in the communication controller 4 except for the above-mentioned period t2 to t3, and the RES2 signal is made active in the FAX image processing unit 17 except for the period t2 to t4. Then, after receiving the image data, when the power SW is turned off or a power failure occurs, the voltage starts to drop, and the program of the communication controller 4 stops at time t3 (point R). Since the RES2 signal is connected to the FAX image data processing unit and the RES2 signal is not active, it becomes the master device of the ROM 6c and the FAX image storage memory 13c only by hardware, and the data with the above flag is transferred to the FAX image data processing unit. Copy from the image storage memory 13c to a predetermined area of the ROM 6c. Then, a marker is written in the file end during the period (t3 to t4), and data from the flag to the marker is transferred. The RAM 7b stores address information stored in the ROM 6c.

In the second embodiment, when the first embodiment is executed, a memory device is selected according to the data capacity. That is, when the image data is received, the FAX image data processing unit 17 transfers and stores the compressed data in the FAX image storage memory 13c by CPU transfer from the FIFO of the G3 FAX modem 15b or the G4 FAX control unit 16b. Predetermined End Of Page data is added to the end of the page and the end of the file. In the present embodiment, the RAM 7b is provided with a register for storing the free capacity of the RAM 7b and the free capacity of the file data, the communication controller 4 updates the register for storing the free capacity of the file data at the time of reception, and at the time of power-off transfer The FAX image data processing unit 17 updates the free capacity register of the RAM 7b. When the power is turned off, the two registers are compared. If the free capacity register of the RAM 7b is larger, the image data is transferred to the RAM 7b.
In the third embodiment, when the second embodiment is executed, the storage capacity is prevented from becoming insufficient. Therefore, in the present embodiment, in addition to the above registers, a one-page capacity register is provided to store the capacity of the first page. That is, if the file data capacity register is larger than the free capacity register at the time of capacity determination, the 1 page capacity register is compared with the free capacity register. If the free capacity is larger, the first page is stored in the RAM 7b. The remaining pages are transferred to the ROM 6c. Thereby, in the case of hardware performance in which the writing time to the ROM 6c does not end by t4, the certainty is increased by writing to the RAM 7b which is easy to transfer.

The fourth embodiment is a form in which more files are stored when the first to third embodiments are executed. That is, in the idle time of the period from t2 to t3, the FAX image data processing unit 17 expands the first page (or may be page by page) of the flagged data file and develops the image in the page memory of the workRAM 8b. . Then, using the thinning circuit in the FAX image data processing unit 17, one line is taken into the compression circuit every several lines, compression processing is performed to create thinning data for the page, and the data is stored after the above-described marker. The second marker is added. The first marker to the second marker are transferred when the power is turned off.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to another embodiment. The same reference numerals are assigned to the same components, and duplicate descriptions are omitted. 5 differs from FIG. 1 in that a compression / decompression unit 13a that compresses and decompresses image data from the copy control unit 1, a large-capacity memory 13b, a LAN I / F 14b connected to an external LAN, and a LAN that controls the LAN The control unit 14a is omitted, and the work RAM 8b, the digital line I / F 16a and the G4 FAX control unit 16b, and the external storage device 13d are omitted from the communication control unit. As a result, an inexpensive facsimile machine can be realized. That is, the present invention can be realized without using an expensive device having a large capacity nonvolatile memory such as an HDD. In addition, there is also an advantage that the present invention can be achieved by adding hardware with a small configuration without intervention of software.

1 is a block diagram of a facsimile apparatus of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram of a power supply system of a facsimile machine according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a power supply system of the communication control unit 2 of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention. The figure showing the voltage transition of DC voltage V2, V3 of this invention. The block diagram of the facsimile apparatus which concerns on other embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 copy control unit, 2 communication control unit, 3 CPU, 4 communication control controller, 6a, 6b, 6c ROM, 7a, 7b RAM, 13a compression / decompression unit, 13b large capacity memory, 8a, 8b workRAM, 13c FAX image storage memory , 13d External storage device, 17 FAX image data processing unit

Claims (4)

A facsimile apparatus capable of receiving a memory, wherein image storage means for storing received image data that does not require immediate output, storage area storage means for storing communication time and storage area information of the received image data, and different threshold values Reset generation means for generating a plurality of reset signals, and image data processing means for copying data between different storage devices from the image storage means,
When the power supply is shut down while storing received image data that does not require immediate output in the image storage unit, the image data processing unit determines a time difference at which a plurality of reset signals generated by the reset generation unit become active. The storage area storage means detects the storage area of the received image data in which terminal identification information on the transmission side is not set, reads the received image data in the storage area from the image storage means, and stores it in the storage device. A facsimile machine characterized by copying. The storage area storage means further comprises a register for storing the free space of the storage area storage means and the free space of the image storage means,
When the power supply is shut down while updating the free space of the register while storing received image data that does not require immediate output in the image storage means, the image data processing means generates a plurality of reset data generated by the reset generation means The storage area of the received image data for which the terminal identification information on the transmission side is not set is detected by the storage area storage means using the time difference at which the reset signal becomes active, and the free space stored in the register is determined. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the received image data in the storage area detected by the storage area storage means is copied to the larger free space. Page capacity storage means for storing the data capacity of the first page of the received image data in the storage area storage means;
The image data processing means is generated by the reset generation means when the power is shut off while updating the free capacity of both registers while storing received image data that does not require immediate output in the image storage means. Using the time difference at which a plurality of reset signals become active, the storage area of the received image data in which the terminal identification information TTI on the transmission side is not set is detected by the storage area storage means, and the free space stored in the register As a result of comparing the capacities, if the free capacity of the storage area storage means is smaller than the free capacity of the image storage means and larger than the capacity stored by the page capacity storage means, the storage detected by the storage area storage means The first page of the received image data in the area is stored in the storage area storage means, and the remaining received image data is stored in the image storage Facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that copying the stage. Further comprising thinning means for thinning the received image data according to a predetermined algorithm;
4. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein received image data that does not require immediate output is thinned by the thinning unit and accumulated in the image accumulating unit. 5.

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